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Potentia Pharmaceuticals Announces Positive Safety Data and Study Expansion in Phase I Trial for Lead Drug Candidate POT-4

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 General News
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LOUISVILLE, Ky., Sept. 29 Potentia Pharmaceuticals, aprivately held biotechnology company developing medicines for the treatment ofage-related macular degeneration (AMD) announced today that the Company'sleading drug candidate, POT-4, has shown early positive safety results in itsPhase I study. POT-4 is a complement inhibitor, which shuts down thecomplement activation cascade that could otherwise lead to local inflammation,tissue damage and upregulation of angiogenic factors such as vascularendothelial growth factor (VEGF). Based on this mechanism of action, POT-4holds the potential to be effective against both dry and wet AMD.
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"POT-4 has generated encouraging safety and tolerability data in thisPhase I study and holds significant promise as a novel agent for treating AMD;a debilitating condition for which there is no cure," said Cedric Francois,President and CEO of Potentia. "As a result of the favorable early data, itwas decided to expand the trial to permit further dose escalation, with thegoal of prolonging the pharmacological benefit from POT-4. Potentia looksforward to the presentation of the Phase I data at a future medical conferenceand, with additional information gained from the extension of the study, tothe initiation of Phase II trials in the future."
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About AMD

AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly of the western worldand affects more than 10 million patients in the United States alone. Thecurrent standard of care for AMD relies primarily on angiogenesis inhibitors,an approach geared towards the approximately 10-15% of AMD patients withcomplications resulting from ocular angiogenesis (growth of new blood vesselsand bleeding in the back of the eye). No drug currently on the market has beenapproved for the treatment of the remaining patients, who suffer from theso-called "dry" form of the disease.

About the Complement System and POT-4

Complement activation is an inflammatory process involving dozens ofplasma proteins, ultimately leading to cell membrane disruption through themembrane attack complex (MAC). Activation of the complement system is animportant part of the body's defensive immune response against pathogens suchas bacteria and viruses. In spite of its defensive function, inappropriate orexcessive complement activation can have destructive consequences if leftunchecked. Over the past three years, multiple scientific publications havestrongly linked variants of genes encoding components of the complement systemwith a predisposition toward AMD.

POT-4 binds tightly to complement component C3, preventing itsparticipation in the complement activation cascade. As C3 is the centralcomponent of all major complement activation pathways, its inhibitioneffectively shuts down downstream complement activation that could otherwiselead to local inflammation, tissue damage and upregulation of angiogenicfactors such as vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF).

About Potentia

Potentia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an early stage biotechnology companyfocused on developing novel therapeutics and drug delivery technologies toaddress chronic inflammatory diseases, with an initial emphasis on diseases ofthe eye such as age-related macular degeneration.

SOURCE Potentia Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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